win your spurs

"Why postpone your good resolution? Up with you, and set about it this instant; tell yourself, 'Now is the time for action; this is zero-hour, just the right moment for making something better of my life.' But you are feeling low, and finding things difficult? Why, that is the very opportunity you want, to win your spurs!"

[Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ]

Did I Miss Anything? Nothing.

"Did I Miss Anything?" by Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here

busyness = moral laziness

"Busyness is moral laziness [because it is often a statement of our self-importance and our excuse to be inattentive to people] ... But God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present. Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to dow hat God has called us to do."

[Prof. Bruce Hindmarsh in "You Have Just Enough Time"]

what we have done, not what we have read

"Once a man is integrated, once his inner life becomes simplified, all of a piece, he begins to attain a richer and deeper knowledge -- quite effortlessly, because the intellectual light he receives comes from above. Freedom of heart is his, and simplicity of intention, and fixity of resolve, and he finds that he is no longer distracted by a variety of occupations; he acts, now only for God's glory, and does his best to get rid of all self-seeking. There is no worse enemy to your freedom and your peace of mind than the undisciplined affections of your own heart. Really good and holy people plan out beforehand in their minds how they are  to behave in given circumstances...

But always what we should prize most is a clear conscience, and holiness of life. How is it that there are so many people who put knowledge first, instead of conduct? ... After all, when the day of judgment comes, we shall be examined about what we have done, not about what we have read; whether we have lived conscientiously, not whether we have turned fine phrases."

[from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis]

the darkness was full of morning things

"When he woke up, the darkness was full of morning things."

[from Flannery O'Connor's short story "Wildcat"]

i'll find my own way down, as i should

[Ben Howard, "Oats in the Water"]

such gifts are a terrifying responsibility

"The wider, the more exact your learning, the more severe will be your judgment, if it has not taught you to live holily. No art, no science should make a man proud of possessing it; such gifts are a terrifying responsibility."

[Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ]

i dare not ask to fly from thee

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

[George Matheson]

no readable book

"No readable book is written by one person alone."

[Tim Keller]

his thoughts go for a walk

peace of conscience, peace with God

All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.
All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.

Peace of conscience, peace with God,
We obtain through Jesus’ blood;
Jesus’ blood speaks solid rest;
We believe, and we are blest.
We believe, and we are blest.

Should the law against her roar,
Jesus’ blood still speaks with power,
“All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.
She must and shall go free.

[William Gadsby]

dinner of herbs

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it." 

[Proverbs 15:17]

I wish I was light / I would shine through this tunnel

["Catch Yer Own Train" by The Silver Seas]

weakness with razzle-dazzle rhetoric

"Simple prose is clear prose. And simple prose, if smooth and rhythmical, is readable prose. Let your ideas alone do the impressing. If they look banal to you, there's only one remedy: upgrade them. Don't try to camouflage their weakness with razzle-dazzle rhetoric. You'll razzle-dazzle yourself right into a bog of bull." John R. Trimble, Writing with Style 30 (2d ed. 2000).

[from Garner's Usage Tip's Quote of the Day]

try and try and try to be simple again

But I'm ain't looking for an easy way out

This whole life it's been about

Try and try and try

And try and try and try

To be simple again

[Songs Ohia, "Just Be Simple"]

He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!

All my life long I had panted for a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Feeding on the filth around me, ‘till my strength was almost gone
Longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Poor I was and sought for riches, something that would satisfy
But the dust I gathered ‘round me only mocked my soul’s sad cry
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Well of water ever springing, Bread of Life so rich and free
Untold wealth that never faileth, my Redeemer is to me
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

[Clara T. Williams, 1875]

** Download a free version of this hymn at this location.

illusion of self-sufficiency

"God often waits to give a blessing until you have prayed for it. Why? Good things that we do not ask for will usually be interpreted by our hearts as the fruit of our own wisdom and diligence. Gifts from God that are not acknowledged a such are deadly to the south, because they thicken the illusion of self-sufficiency that leads to overconfidence and sets us up for failure." 

[Timothy Keller, Prayer, p. 102]

chasing after what is cheap

"Thus it is that no cruelty whatsoever passes by without impact. Thus it is that we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap." 

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]

a slave into a child

To see the law of Christ fulfilled
And hear his pard'ning voice
Transforms a slave into a child
And duty into choice. 

[William Cowper]

no mode of victory but by flight

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us! 

[Charles Spurgeon]